Wordless Wednesday: Downward Dog
Review - G.I. Joe
Well, my first impression was 
Oh, and the guy cast as Duke (Channing Tatum) was a nice piece of eye-candy with good on-screen chemistry with Marlon Wayans.
Other than that … what the heck did they do to the back story??? The Baroness and Duke? Scarlett and Ripcord??? What ‘Verse are they trying to put this in??
Then again, I wasn’t a huge Joe fan as a kid. Much more my brother’s thing. I will have to say that at least this time people died. My father’s biggest complaint about G.I. Joe when I was a kid was that it didn’t correctly portray war. People die in war. The good guys don’t always win, and if you are in the military, you damn better well have better aim than the Joes did. (OK, he didn’t say damn).
I needed some brainless action footage and G.I. Joe delivered.
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Happy 33rd
- Mint Tea calms the spirit and body.
- Today was not what I had planned, and I am okay with that. Besides, a lady of my age would look really silly throwing a temper tantrum
- This year’s birthday was a lot different from last years, and I’m okay with that too.
I had planned to spend the day at Disneyland, taking advantage of their “Free on Your Birthday” promotion. It was going to be fun, ending with fireworks (only kind I’m getting these days anyway) and spending a nice relaxing evening at the Hilton Anaheim, then hanging in Long Beach with friends from High School tomorrow. If you can’t act like a kid on your birthday, when can you?
Instead … I slept in, did Domestic Goddess duties while twitter was down, teased my son, talked with my mom – first a pep talk that she gave me, which was more of a heart-to-heart that I needed to hear, and later a request for my laptop that segued into a few different topics … I digress, where was I? Oh yes, talked with my mom, got library cards for me and Josh, and then treated us to G.I. Joe (love me some Snake Eyes).
Afterwards, we stopped at Albertson’s to get cake (Snickers) and ice cream (French Vanilla), and dinner. Then home to watch a musical. Josh sang Happy Birthday to me before asking for just a sliver of cake (did the earth stand still??? Must have been that 3x3 he inhaled).
Talk about low-key. But, I think I needed it. I was able to get out of the house (a VERY good thing!), and maintain my regained health. The last thing I need is another week off due to illness, either mine or Josh’s. A lot of this year’s birthday was dictated by the lousy economy as well as the past week of flu-like yuckiness.
Here’s to a new year!
The Lord bless and keep me
May his face shine upon me
And be gracious and
give me peace
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Kick this Flu on it’s Butt Citrus Chicken
I hate being sick. I’ve had enough of chicken noodle soup. So for dinner tonight I am tossing together something tasty out of the ingredients we have on hand. Yes, I’m one of those “organic cooks” so I did this one by eye and smell. Since I’m sick my mom tasted the sauce for me.
Ingredients:
- crushed pineapple (without juice) and orange marmalade in equal amounts (at least a 4 oz though)
- canola or olive oil – approx 1/3 cup
- garlic fresh or crushed, ginger fresh is better, I only had ground on hand, cayenne pepper flakes to taste. More of each to combat illness (links go to Wikipedia entries for each explaining the health benefits)
- 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- optional – honey if you like it sweeter, but the orange marmalade makes it plenty sweet. Honey also has excellent antibacterial properties.
Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F, line baking pan with foil. Place chicken breasts in pan. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl. Adjust seasonings to taste, should be sweet with a little kick from the pepper. Pour mixture over the chicken, coating thoroughly. Bake 30-45 minutes, or until chicken is done.
Serve with rice and steamed vegetables.
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Anxiety Strikes Again
I just can’t seem to get away from this monster. It started late Sunday afternoon with a sudden sense of loss and loneliness. I chalked it up to being tired and coming down from the informational high I got from Drupal Camp. It’s a long drive from Irvine to Lancaster, so I was tired, and worried about Josh. He’s been sick since last Wednesday or so, thought it was just a cough, now it appears to be the flu.
Then yesterday, I went to sleep ok, could not wake up. It felt like there was a heavy hand on my chest and cotton in my brain. I checked on Josh, who still sounded like he was trying to cough up a lung, so opted to stay home. And then realized, I had absolutely no interest in leaving the house, not even to get the rest of my stuff out of the car. “Great, just great, here we go again,” I thought. Then the shortness of breath despite no physical activity whatsoever. This is how I usually know that I am about to have an anxiety attack. And this uncontrollable urge to go back to bed and crawl under my blankets.
I had a bout of agoraphobia last summer that was particularly bad. I couldn’t even leave the house to walk the dogs. That was messy. Yeah, it was that bad. At least this time I have a job that can take my mind off my troubles for eight hours a day. And a sick kid to take care of. So long as I don’t have to take him to the ER.
Random Observation
Since I started blogging about my anxiety and tagging my posts, it seems that I have a notable attack about once a month. It doesn’t seem that often in my brain though.Update
It's Friday. I’ve been home all week and haven’t left the house at all. Partly because I caught a touch of what Josh has. I hate being sick, it doesn’t make the anxiety/agoraphobia/depression any easier to deal with, that’s for sure. I think I’m better. I still don’t want to go outside if I don’t have to, but I can if I need to.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AByxGDQDM3pw5jvVXZGBzrwXSsQN8QGnH-axQKWnk_PmjxkQ_pvwLC6uxmD5gdCnaPEHEZW6jvO_luie59S3ASxqFpfPIGFjB7P3cprOnLOflhSXwg9yXUgIK2wGdJiQTb7bv0fEy68pAqaqLYAlkpO-Ojj-=s0-d)
Dreaming of Drupal Modules …
Drupal Camp Recap: I’m getting settled in for a nice summer’s nap as dreams of Drupal modules dance through my head.
Wow, what a day today has been. I have always said that I love learning new things and today … I got served :) There was SO MUCH to absorb! And not enough time! If I end up getting hooked on Drupal, I will be attending the High Desert User Group. I’m so new to Drupal that I did my very first install last night with Oakley.
Right now I am sitting on @oakmonster’s couch, drinking ginger tea (way overstuffed from dinner) and trying to digest all that I have learned today. Foremost of which is, I need me some CSS, SQL, and PHP skills if I am going to be touching a database and designing templates. I have learned that I can do a Drupal install on my local machine quite easily, (thank you Acquia!) and even install modules from the Drupal website and have them work. CCK Demystified really made something *click*.
I have a ton of ideas running around in my head and am reminded of the Vignette > Tridion migration I did for UBOC last year, but now I understand so much more. Now I get to be the one creating the forms, fields, and everything else needed to build and/or migrate a site. It’s got my creativity juices flowing. Hopefully I can hang onto my enthusiasm and not get bogged down in too many details.
Tomorrow I go in for Day 2. Sessions will include Image Handling, Ubercart, Migrating a site from Desktop to Live, 
and a session on FOSS - free open source software. I will end the day geeked out and brain numb. All in all, a good weekend I think.
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Family Reunion Roadtrip – Part 2
I wish I had an eidetic memory so I could properly caption the photo. In lieu of that, TAKE A LOOK AT MY WONDERFUL FAMILY!
What an amazing day! It was an incredible experience to meet everyone, most for the first time. It was good seeing Katie and Andrew again, the last time was about 12 years ago. Actually, the last time I saw a lot of my relatives (on this side of the family) was 12 years ago at Grandma Helen’s 100th birthday celebration. Bonus: it turns out that we have cousins less than an hour away down this way. The boys got some bonding time in over ice-cream churning.
Now that I have had a day or so to think about it, I am already starting to forget things.
Memorable moments
- Seeing my grandmother for the first time since I’ve moved back to CA. I didn’t realize how much I have missed her
- Right after the large group photo was taken Aleta said “now let’s separate by color”. I was one of the photographers and blurted out “Wha..?” and then started laughing as it clicked. What she should have said was something along the lines of separating by nametag color O.K., you had to be there, but the whole group started laughing.
- Getting to know people via the “Relatively Speaking” Bingo, especially Randy and his waffle iron collection.
- Getting to see the old barn on the original Elmore homestead
- Sandy Lawrence introducing me to the Magnum, by way of tossing the white zin I was drinking! I usually don’t do reds, but that was delish and no headache!
- S’mores
- Realizing that there are a lot of bossy women in our family!
- Most memorable moment for me – When Olivia said that (Gr’ma) Celia was the person who inspired her the most for her groundbreaking marriage … Josh said “Why?” and then “Oh! I don’t see Black and White anymore.” – We’ve come a long way baby!
- Actually having a good road trip with both my mom and son in the car
A Bit of Family History
My grandmother, Celia Elmore (above - 2nd row, 1st on the right) married my grandfather, Manuel Talley in 1950, just months after the laws against inter-racial marriage were repealed in California. They had three daughters, the youngest of whom is my mother. My mother also married inter-racially – or not, considering that both my parents qualify as mixed … but anyways, and then I had Josh, who is mixed Vietnamese and … me. Which is why he tends to identify as Asian – he’s 50% unmuddled :)
Looking at the picture that this came from, my niece Loren looks a lot like Aleta as a child. Wow.
Family Tree
If you happen to be reading this on Facebook, please tag yourself in this note and add your own memories.
Thanks!
Family Reunion Roadtrip – Part 1
So we made quite the trek today after Mom got off work and Josh got out of school. It would be more impressive if I had gone to Vegas and back, but I’m smart enough to know that my back wouldn’t have taken 16+ hours in the car in one day.
View Larger Map – Lancaster to Santa Rosa
We gassed up at Costco and grabbed some Wendy’s for dinner. Finally on the freeway about 6:30 PM. We left a few hours later than anticipated, but definitely not as late as we could have. For some reason I was feeling optimistic that we would get to the hotel around 11. Don’t ask me why, it’s a seven hour trip with no traffic …
Less than an hour into the trip, Josh “assumed the position” 
Headphones in, chair back, happily passed out. He woke up a little later and was up till 3AM. Talk about a re-charge. And he finished his book. Next up, James A. Owens’ The Indigo King (Imaginarium Geographica Book 3), if we can find it. I had made a joke with my mom that if Josh finished his book tonight I would probably have to stop at a B&N or Border’s on the way home. When he announced that he had finished his book, she asked “So what are you going to read on the way home?” He answered, “We can just stop at a bookstore.” Yeah, I know my son. And I know that because he enjoys reading, I will cave and buy him books. There are worse things in life. Really need to get that boy a Lancaster Library card though …
Got gas in … somewhere near @califmom. I tweeted it and she let me know that I could DM if we got stuck (thanks lady, much appreciated, glad I didn’t have to call you late at night!)
Finally made it to Santa Rosa about 1:45 AM.
Josh and I were a little pumped (Code Red Game Fuel, FTW!) Even my late night insomniac friends seem to have gone to sleep. So Josh and I watched “You Got Served” together and then he went to bed.
That’s it for now. We get to meet long-lost relatives tomorrow and I will be taking lots of pictures …
good night. I need some sleep.
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